Sections
- Page 1 Lenovo P2 Review
- Page 2 Performance and software Review
- Page 3 Camera Review
- Page 4 Battery life and conclusion Review
Lenovo P2 – Camera
The rear-facing camera on the P2 is probably its weakest feature and prevents this phone from receiving a five out of five score. Specs-wise, it looks good: it gets a 13-megapixel sensor with an f/2.0 aperture, phase-detection autofocus and a dual LED flash.
In practice, it falls rather flat. It isn’t a terrible camera by any means, but in situations where the lighting isn’t ideal – indoors or on a cloudy day, for example – images are muted and blotchy.
The camera is capable of producing some decent depth-of-field effects for nice portraits, however – but that’s about it. Focusing is reasonably fast, but nothing to shout about.
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The camera app is needlessly complicated, with numerous modes and even the ability to manually adjust focus, ISO and other bits and bobs. I normally left it on Auto, and you probably should as well; the camera isn’t good enough to be used for careful, manual shooting.
Some scenes look perfectly fine when light isn’t extreme
Landscape shots can be good when sunlight isn’t too bright
Night photography is universally poor
Close-up shots are fine
“Artistic HDR” mode is one of the worst I’ve ever seen
Video quality isn’t particularly great, either. When faced with low light, footage becomes jerky and unwatchable – although electronic image stabilisation does a reasonable job of reducing the effect of shaky hands.
The 5-megapixel front-facing camera does a decent job of producing natural and reasonably detailed faces, but often at the expense of background detail.
I really hope Lenovo launches a “P2 Plus” for £50 more with a good pair of cameras. If it did that, it would be one of the best phones on the planet.
How we test phones
We test every mobile phone we review thoroughly. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly and we use the phone as our main device over the review period. We’ll always tell you what we find and we never, ever, accept money to review a product.
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We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
